No Sale

President Obama’s State of the Union message doesn’t seem to have roused any enthusiasm for his proposals. Scott Rasmussen measured support for increased spending in the categories advocated by Obama before and after the SOTU, and found little difference, with most voters opposing such “investments”:

The president’s Tuesday night State of the Union speech had little impact on support for his new spending proposals in areas like education, transportation and technological innovation.
Rasmussen Reports asked voters the same three questions about the president’s economic proposals on the two nights prior to the speech and then again on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. On the first two nights, 39% supported the proposals. On the next two nights, support was 41%.
Fifty percent (50%) of Likely U.S. Voters now oppose the federal government spending more money in areas like education, transportation and technological innovation, up from 45% in the previous survey. Forty-one percent (41%) favor the idea, a two-point increase from before.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters now say cutting federal spending is better for the economy than increasing federal spending in these targeted areas. But 34% disagree and say increasing spending is better. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

It is a little-known fact that the biggest boost Obama has had in public approval during the first two years of his administration (albeit a short-lived one) followed his 2010 State of the Union speech. This year, no such bounce has yet appeared. That is consistent with voters’ lukewarm–at best–response to the idea of spending yet more money on government programs. Obama seems completely oblivious to the public’s mood.